I have sent some PCB designs to factories for prototyping. The price, however, varies greatly. Some ask 200USD for a four-layer 5cm*10cm PCB prototyping. While some only ask for 50USD. I assume that there are differences between these two factories. However, I could not find the differences. Could I ask for some advice here?

Will they respect your requirements (fab notes), or just build to a standard set of tolerances and specs? Many low cost vendors severely limit what they will accept in fab notes.

Quality. Do you trust this shop to build your board right the first time, or is there a chance they'll mess it up and have to re-do it, causing a delay?

Lower-level materials. Are they buying the actual laminate materials from high quality vendors or just whatever's cheapest at the moment. (Does your application need the higher-quality material?) Will they use the same material for every lot? If they're just buying at lowest cost, the product is likely to vary from lot to lot.

Support. Are they providing engineering support to review your design and catch mistakes (mostly your layout mistakes) before you spend money on the fab.

Test. Are they providing 100% connectivity testing on the boards after manufacturing?

Will they respect your requirements (fab notes), or just build to a standard set of tolerances and specs? Many low cost vendors severely limit what they will accept in fab notes.

Quality. Do you trust this shop to build your board right the first time, or is there a chance they'll mess it up and have to re-do it, causing a delay?

Lower-level materials. Are they buying the actual laminate materials from high quality vendors or just whatever's cheapest at the moment. (Does your application need the higher-quality material?) Will they use the same material for every lot? If they're just buying at lowest cost, the product is likely to vary from lot to lot.

Support. Are they providing engineering support to review your design and catch mistakes (mostly your layout mistakes) before you spend money on the fab.

Test. Are they providing 100% connectivity testing on the boards after manufacturing?

Will they respect your requirements (fab notes), or just build to a standard set of tolerances and specs? Many low cost vendors severely limit what they will accept in fab notes.

Quality. Do you trust this shop to build your board right the first time, or is there a chance they'll mess it up and have to re-do it, causing a delay?

Lower-level materials. Are they buying the actual laminate materials from high quality vendors or just whatever's cheapest at the moment. (Does your application need the higher-quality material?) Will they use the same material for every lot? If they're just buying at lowest cost, the product is likely to vary from lot to lot.

Support. Are they providing engineering support to review your design and catch mistakes (mostly your layout mistakes) before you spend money on the fab.

Test. Are they providing 100% connectivity testing on the boards after manufacturing?

You may be surprised by the huge price differences among different PCB manufacturers in 2018. And I recently noticed that there're increasing number of PCB manufacturers put notice "If you get a lower quote from other suppliers, just forward us the quotation and inform the supplier name, we can beat the price" in their official websites. It's very important that you understand why that supplier charge the pcb manufacturing service at the price they offered. As the old saying goes "you get what you paid for". If the price is extremely cheap, make sure you check out their capacity, materials, manufacturing capabilities, quality standards, test & inspection options, customer support, etc. Here's an article on PCB manufacturer and assembler evaluation https://www.pcbcart.com/article/content/evaluate-pcb-house.html. Hope it helps.

Anna wrote:You may be surprised by the huge price differences among different PCB manufacturers in 2018. And I recently noticed that there're increasing number of PCB manufacturers put notice "If you get a lower quote from other suppliers, just forward us the quotation and inform the supplier name, we can beat the price" in their official websites. It's very important that you understand why that supplier charge the pcb manufacturing service at the price they offered. As the old saying goes "you get what you paid for". If the price is extremely cheap, make sure you check out their capacity, materials, manufacturing capabilities, quality standards, test & inspection options, customer support, etc. Here's an article on PCB manufacturer and assembler evaluation https://www.pcbcart.com/article/content/evaluate-pcb-house.html. Hope it helps.